MANILA: Canada and the Philippines signed a deal Saturday to help Manila buy military equipment to defend its territory, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Philippine President Benigno Aquino said.
The Philippine defense department and state-run Canadian Commercial Corp. signed the agreement as Harper met Aquino at Malacanang Palace in Manila, the two leaders announced at a joint news conference.
The deal was inked amid a territorial dispute between the Philippines and China over islands and waters in the South China Sea.
“This memorandum of understanding will enable the Philippines to acquire the equipment and expertise it needs to fulfil the country’s defense and security agenda,” Harper said.
Under the deal, Filipino purchases of equipment and expertise from Canada’s $12.6 billion ($12.6 billion) defense industry are guaranteed by the Ottawa government, according to a Canadian government statement.
“This will help us in our efforts to build our defense and security capabilities,” Aquino said, declining to elaborate.
“I cannot go into specifics lest they be observed by less friendly individuals,” he added.
Faced with communist and Islamist insurgencies and an increasingly assertive China, Aquino noted that the military had just two transport aircraft, no fighter jets and just 132 mainly World War II-era ships.
“The fundamental issue is that we have a lot of outmoded equipment,” he said.
The Canadian Commercial Corp. serves as a go-between between Canadian suppliers and foreign governments to transact defense and security contracts.
The Philippines has been in the market for patrol vessels to protect its waters, including areas that overlap with territory claimed by China.
Manila’s military treaty ally the United States is set this year to deliver a second refurbished Hamilton-class cutter, previously used by the US Coast Guard, to the Philippine Navy.
Last month the Philippine Coast Guard announced it would buy five patrol boats from France for about 90 million euros ($116 million), partly to guard disputed areas in the South China Sea.
The Philippines and China began a stand-off in April over the Scarborough Shoal, a group of islets in the Sea which the Philippines says are well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
China claims the shoal as well as nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters close to the coasts of neighboring countries.
Canada, Philippines ink defense procurement deal
Canada, Philippines ink defense procurement deal
Indonesia reaffirms Yemen’s territorial integrity, backs stability efforts amid tensions
- Statement comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a UAE weapons shipment at Yemeni port city
- Jakarta last week said it ‘appreciates’ Riyadh ‘working together’ with Yemen to restore stability
JAKARTA: Indonesia has called for respect for Yemen’s territorial integrity and commended efforts to maintain stability in the region, a day after Saudi Arabia bombed a weapons shipment from the UAE at a Yemeni port city that Riyadh said was intended for separatist forces.
Saudi Arabia carried out a “limited airstrike” at Yemen’s port city of Al-Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, following the arrival of an Emirati shipment that came amid heightened tensions linked to advances by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates further efforts by concerned parties to maintain stability and security,” particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahara.
“Indonesia reaffirms the importance of peaceful settlement through an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue under the coordination of the United Nations and respecting Yemen’s legitimate government and territorial integrity,” Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry said.
The latest statement comes after Jakarta said last week that it “appreciates the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as other relevant countries, working together with Yemeni stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.”
Saudi Arabia leads the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE and was established in 2015 to combat the Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen.
Riyadh has been calling on the STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels, to withdraw after it launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops last month, seeking an independent state in the south.
Indonesia has also urged for “all parties to exercise restraint and avoid unilateral action that could impact security conditions,” and has previously said that the rising tensions in Yemen could “further deteriorate the security situation and exacerbate the suffering” of the Yemeni people.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are its main trade and investment partners in the Middle East.
